History of the Presidential Nomination Process

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In this lecture, Dr David Andersen (Durham University) sketches out the system of presidential elections in the United States and explores the historical origins of this system. We note the silence of the Constitution on the subject of presidential elections and consider how this ambiguity has impacted the evolution of the presidential nomination system. We see that the unanticipated growth of the role of the President and the emergence of political parties in the US led to a growing need for the public to be involved in the selection of presidential candidates. We explore the means by which a primary system attempted to meet this need as well as the challenges faced along the way, as in the election of 1912. This long-term perspective equips us to explore the contemporary presidential nomination system in the United States in subsequent modules.